Turin is heading to Venice with something to prove, and the numbers speak for themselves. At the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, Piemont will be represented by a record nine titles across the festival’s major programmes, marking the strongest presence the region has ever achieved at the Lido. Five films are featured in the Official Selection, alongside three titles in the International Critics’ Week and a documentary in the Notti Veneziane programme of the Giornate degli Autori. For Film Commission Torino Piemonte, it is a landmark moment and a powerful statement about the place Turin and its surrounding territory now occupy on the international film map.

At the centre of the story are filmmakers whose names carry considerable weight. Marco Bechis returns with Ritorno a Buenos Aires, premiering in Competition and vying for the Golden Lion, while Nanni Moretti brings his latest film, Succederà questa notte, to Venice. Both productions have a direct connection with Turin. Bechis shot three weeks of his international Italy-Brazil co-production in the city, using the Aula Bunker at the Court of Appeal in Le Vallette as its principal location. Moretti, meanwhile, spent a week shooting across Turin, including at Sandro Pertini Airport and in the streets of the city centre.

That connection between major international cinema and the city continues in Orizzonti. Alina Marazzi’s La Ragazza con la Leica, selected as the section’s opening film and in Competition, brings the extraordinary story of photographer Gerda Taro to the screen, with Emilia Schüle in the lead. Marazzi returned to Turin for three weeks in autumn 2025, further demonstrating the city’s ability to accommodate ambitious, international-scale productions.

Then comes one of the most intriguing debuts of the selection: Tommaso Landucci’s I figli della scimmia, starring Riccardo Scamarcio. The film was shot over five weeks between January and February 2026, moving through locations in central Turin and several municipalities across the province. The production also made use of Film Commission Torino Piemonte’s regional network, showing how the Commission’s reach extends well beyond the city itself.

Completing the Official Selection is Il Senso della Terra, directed by Alessandro Ingaria and Simone Massi and presented in Orizzonti Out of Competition. Supported by the Film Commission Torino Piemonte Short Film Fund, the film explores the Mediterranean migration experience through a deeply human and poetic perspective. Its presence alongside major features and established auteurs is a reminder that Piemont’s cinematic identity is not built around a single kind of filmmaking: it encompasses international productions, emerging voices, experimentation and socially engaged storytelling.

Behind this extraordinary Venice presence lies a strategy that has been developing for years. Through the Piemonte Film TV Fund and the work of Film Commission Torino Piemonte, the region has built an ecosystem designed not simply to attract productions, but to make filmmakers want to return. Funding, location services, production support and an expanding network across the territory have helped transform Piemont into an increasingly competitive destination for cinema. The nine-title record is therefore significant not only because of the films themselves, but because it reflects the maturity of the production landscape that surrounds them. As Film Commission Torino Piemonte President Beatrice Borgia and Director Paolo Manera have stressed, the achievement arrives as the Foundation celebrates 25 years of activity; a milestone that gives this particular Venice edition an even greater significance.

And Turin’s film community will be very much present at the Lido. Giulio Base, President of the Torino Film Festival, will be in Venice, adding another important link between the city’s institutional film culture and its growing international profile. The Torino Film Festival has long been one of the city’s defining cultural events, and Base’s presence reinforces the sense that Turin is no longer simply supporting cinema from behind the scenes: it is actively shaping the conversation around contemporary film.

What makes this Venice moment particularly exciting is the sense of continuity. The films arriving at the Lido may belong to very different worlds, genres and generations, but they share a common geography. Turin has become a place where established directors can build ambitious projects, where new filmmakers can find their first major stage, and where productions can discover locations and professional expertise capable of matching their creative ambitions.

For Piemont, Venice ’83 is more than a showcase. It is a coming-of-age moment. For Film Commission Torino Piemonte, it is the clearest possible demonstration of what 25 years of investment, collaboration and vision can achieve. And for Turin, it is another invitation to look at the city not only as a destination for filmmakers, but as a genuine European film capital in the making.

Venice is the meeting point this September. Turin is where the next story begins. We’ll see you all in Turin.